Chiapas: Justice is demanded in the case of the feminicide of the youth Itzel Yanet Méndez Pérez

Photo: @Sipaz

On 7 May, relatives and human-rights defenders demanded justice in a press-conference for the death of Itzel Méndez Pérez, a 17-year old Tzotzil student. Itzel Méndez Pérez left her home on 14 April at 11pm, and her body was found a day later in the Sonora neighborhood located in the northern part of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, with indications of having been raped and beaten.

During this press-conference, Martha Figueroa Mier, from the Mercedes Olivera Feminist Collective, stressed that according to what had been published in the press, from January to April 2012 there have been recorded 20 feminicides in Chiapas, and not one has been clarified to date. Several organizations and families organized a march for 14 May at 4pm, which is to leave from the UNACH Department of Social Sciences until the place where Itzel’s body was found, so as to demand that authorities “observe their work not only in this case but also in that of other women who have been found dead, thus indicating the degree to which violence against women rules in this city.”